Norwell Middle School celebrates literary artist awards

Calem Robertson, an eighth-grader at Norwell Middle School, recently had a poem she wrote selected to hang among more than 20 others as part of the middle school’s Literary Artist’s Awards.

Mark Burridge

Calem Robertson, an eighth-grader at Norwell Middle School, recently had a poem she wrote selected to hang among more than 20 others as part of the middle school’s Literary Artist’s Awards.

Four years ago, Calem’s older sister Avery enjoyed the same honor.

In all, 24 student poems were selected from eighth grade classes to be framed and hung on the wall for the next four years. When those four years are up, students are invited to come pick up their poems to bring home… and also to make room for the next class’s literary work.

Eighth-grade teachers Marie Calorio and Terri Dsida organize the program each year. The teachers alternate among several spots in the school to hang the literary work each year.

“Each student is so unique,” Dsida said while welcoming parents to view the work their children had done. “Each student brings something different to their poem.”

This year, the poems went on display down the hall from Dsida’s classroom at the top of a flight of stairs. After the poems were hung on the wall, the teachers invited the parents of the students to come and view the makeshift gallery of literary work.

“We’re thrilled to be able to show their work for four years,” Calorio said to the parents. “Students do such great work, but there is little occasion to showcase it. You can’t showcase a five-page essay.”

Janice Mazzolla, the school’s vice principal, said the idea for the program came to Norwell Middle School with Calorio after she had done something similar at her previous school.

Calorio created the awards seven years ago, with then teacher Mazzolla helping her. Mazzolla was named the school’s vice-principal four years ago. Which means that this year, the last group of students that Mazzolla taught are able to return to pick up their poems. Sometimes, though, students elect to donate the works to the school.

“My office is decorated with poems that have been left behind,” Mazzolla said. She added some of the other leftover pieces can be found around the school.

The actual poetry itself spans a wide variety of topics.

Some are literal in their meaning: “Death” by Evan Vavpetic and “One with Nature” by Courtney Arnold. Others are funny: “The Fat Explosion” by Anders Lundgren, which tells the story of a man eating until he explodes.

Elizabeth Doherty wrote about not being able to think of something to write in her poem, “Writer’s Block,” and Sydney Keefe wrote about a bomb going off in “Nothing.”

“It’s neat because they’re all so different,” Valerie Robertson said. “They’re so creative and it is an outgrowth of their creativity.”

When Dsida was welcoming parents to the display, she explained how the poetry project lets teachers see another side of their students.

“It taps into a part of [them] you can’t see the rest of the year,” she said.